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FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 



OF 



Epsilon Chapter 
Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity 

JUNE 7, 1904 



ADDRESS BY 

PROF. CHARLES F. HIMES, PH.D., LL.D. 



DICKINSON COLLEGE 
CARLISLE, PENNSYLVANIA 



■:■■"' l--"*^^'i;l"a^!^ 



ADDRESS 

AT THE 

CELEBRATION OF THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

OF THE EPSILON CHAPTER OF THE 

PHI KAPPA SIGMA FRATERNITY 

JUNE 7, 1904 

By 
PROFESSOR CHARLES F. HIMES, Ph.D., LL.D. 



Prepared at the request of the 
Founders 

John S. Tucker, Class of 1855 
Charles F. Himes, Class of 1855 
James D. Watters, Class of 1856 



Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania 



PREFATORY 






At the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the 
Epsilon Chapter of the Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity, Dick- 
inson College, Carlisle, Pa. , three of the founders were pre- 
sent, and participated, namely: Hon. John S. Tucker, 
Class of 1855, ex-Confederate Captain,, with an armless 
sleeve; Professor Charles F. Himes, Ph. D., LL. D., Class 
of 1855, for more than 30 years professor in Dickinson 
College; and Hon. James D. Watters, Class of 1856, for 30 
years Circuit Judge in the State of Maryland, also an ex- 
Confederate. These old comrades requested Professor 
Himes to prepare an address for the occasion, on the * 'Early 
Days of the Fraternity.'' It was submitted to them, and 
heartily endorsed by them, and was read immediately 
after the banquet, and requested for publication. This 
has been delayed by the misplacement of the manuscript. 
It was supplemented by extended, impromptu remarks by 
the three founders. Those by Capt. Tucker, the silver- 
tongued orator, and by Judge Watters, in a more serious 
strain were of the highest interest, and were to have been 
written out for publication, but in the the inevitable con- 
fusion incident to the closing hours of such an occasion, 
this was overlooked, or, if done, the manuscript has been 
lost, a matter of deepest regret. 

The address as now published, although wanting the 
portions that were delivered from notes, and not written 
down, is not only interesting as an account of the early 
days of Old Epsilon, but as a contribution to the history 
of Greek-Letter Fraternities. 



Author 

10 



ADDRESS 



Brother Phi Kappa Sigmas, and Welcome 'Innova- 
tions'' on my right: — 

A preHminary word of explanation of this last term 
seems proper. It has been much used in the last 
few days, and has seemed to relieve the great em- 
barrassment in adding a very novel feature to the celebra- 
tion of the 50th anniversary of Old Epsilon. It has been 
deliberated upon very seriously for days, and has been dis- 
cussed from every point of view, but always with a favor- 
able decision uppermost in thought, and wish, and, I would 
almost say, intention, after it had once suggested itself, 
or rather had been suggested by the parties in immediate 
interest. As there were no precedents for a 50th Anni- 
versary of the Chapter, a controlling argument, or ex- 
cuse for following their wishes was that it would be set- 
ting no precedent for annual banquets to permit the ladies 
nearest to those, who after fifty years connected the 
present with the past, to take some part in the celebration 
of this Fiftieth Anniversary. Accordingly it was agreed, 
informally, that those ladies should be allow^ed, not exactly 
invited, to be present, not at the banquet, Oh ! No ! but 
only at the post prandial remarks of the ''Old Men" 
They needed no urging to be present, and are here.* 

I would just say, too, by way of explanation, that my 
comrades of 50 years ago requested me to prepare a little 



*To satisfy the curiosity of the future, their names are given 
as follows : Mrs. Charles F. Himes, and daughter Miss Mary, Murray 
Himes, and Miss Nannie VVatters, the guest, with her father Judge 
James D, Watters and Capt. John S. Tucker, of Mrs. Himes. The lad- 
ies were called for about 11 p. m., and after the remarks of the "Old 
Men," and the first toasts were taken home again. It was a great 
s )urce of pleasure to them, as it wasvall present, and the banquet re- 
ceived no damage. r^ 



4 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

paper in regard to the early days of the fraternity, prom- 
ising to revise, correct, and add to whatever I might write. 
They have simply approved the paper as read to them, 
with a few suggestions. My impression is that they hope in 
this way to escape being called upon to speak for them- 
selves, in which expectation I trust that you may see that 
they are disappointed. 

It is a remakable incident, or accident, if you please, 
that of the four, who inaugurated the Epilson chapter of 
the Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity, three should be present 
with you to-night, to celebrate the semi-centennial of that 
event. You, I think, are to be congratulated upon the cir- 
cumstance, but still more are we, the three, and I would 
say for them, that, although a first class life-insurance 
company would not rate their expectation as high as most 
of you, they are not here with a sort of ' 'morituri saluta- 
mus'* greeting, but to enter enthusiastically into the exer- 
cises, and to enjoy with you all the good things the occa- 
sion offers, the fraternal greetings, ' 'the feast of reason 
and the flow of soul.'* At the same time we may, like 
''Old Mortality' ^ retouch and freshen moss-grown, rapidly 
fading recollections of the early heroic days of the chapter; 
for this chapter is unique among the fraternity organiza- 
tions of the college in that its history extends back into 
the heroic period of college fraternities. 

As I look backward fifty years, and then forward on 
this assemblage of college men of varied years, all in the 
rare enjoyment of the associations of college life, I am re- 
minded of a line in Horace, that used to give me trouble, 
and that I did not fully understand, even after the lucid 
explanations of the professor. A new rendering suggests 
itself in the light of these countenances; it may be very 
free; it may be altogether incorrect, I leave that with those 
who know more Latin than I have forgotten, or ever knew. 



PHI KAPPA SIGMA FRATERNITY 5 

It is: "juvat collegisse", which I think may not be wrongly- 
translated, ' 1 am glad I went to college. ' ' 

Intercollegiate Greek-Letter college fraternities, of 
which the Phi Kappa Sigma is an excellent type, are one 
of the most interesting phases of modern college life. 
They are largely a development during the period of the 
life of this chapter. Before that time there were Greek- 
letter societies, but they were local, exclusive, restricted 
as to classes, varied in character, and limited to a com- 
paratively few institutions. This chapter of old Phi Kap- 
pa Sigma stretches back then in its history into that pe- 
riod where traditions are dominant, helped out at places 
by very scanty incidental, rather than regular records. 
Had we of that day had in mind the possibility of an occas- 
ion, such as this, we would have been particular to put down 
in black and white many facts that would interest you, 
and many more, perhaps, that would interest us, that have 
been left, for the most part to the treacherous tablet of 
the memory. 

But there may have been peculiar reasons for this ap- 
parent oversight. We were not only too intent on doing 
things, but the doing was attended with such risks to us 
as students, that the fewer tell-tale ''acta diurna" the bet- 
ter. It is hardly realizable today how intense was the op- 
position to secret fraternities at that time, not only on the 
part of the college authorities, faculties and boards of trus- 
tees, but on the part of a great majority of the students, ^ 
and I may add on the part of many fond parents, factors 
in those days, always worthy of some consideration. This 
may be explained, in the faculty, in part, by a sort of 
omne ignotum pro terrifico feeling, that, when they did not 
know exactly what a body of students was doing, especially 
if they were concealing it under oath-bound formulas, and 
grips and passwords, coupled with enigmatic, ominous 
Greek letters, there was certainly something more than 



6 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

suspicious involved. There may have may been some rea- 
son too, for it, outside of pure college considerations. The 
subject of secret societies had but recently convulsed the 
country; it had revolutionized Pennsylvania, politically, by 
the election of Ritner as governor, on an anti-Masonic 
ticket; and although the storm had overpassed, and the 
subject had been eliminated from politics, many retained 
their intense hostility to secret organizations of all kinds, 
even to those with approved purposes. There was a peculiar, 
magic potency in secrecy, that was always to be feared, and 
faculties took counsel of their fears rather than of their 
sober judgment. The two literary-societies the Belles Let- 
tres and Union-Philosophical— were, it is true, almost more 
inviolably secret, if that may be, than the fraternities of 
today. Their halls were closed with double doors, to pro- 
tect their proceedings from any possibility of being over- 
heard, and the halls from glimpses from the outside. The 
janitor, who kept the hall in order, had been initiated by 
such a special terrorizing ordeal, that there was no fear that 
he would, if he could, reveal anything of its internal con- 
struction or arrangement. No member of the faculty had 
access, any more than any other outsider, except such as 
were regularly initiated members of the particular society. 
The proceedings, down to the most trifling detail, were 
kept profoundly secret, with expulsion, or even more, for 
the member that would violate that secrecy. As an in- 
stance may be mentioned, that the election for anniver- 
sarian and speakers for the anniversary of one of the 
literary societies occured in November, the anniversary in 
the following July; and yet the list and order of the speak- 
ers was only a matter of conjecture and guess to the mem- 
bers of the other society, until the programs were distri- 
buted on the evening of the exercises. In the meantime 
it was almost the duty of a member of the society, if he 
was known as a betting man, to accept any offers of bets 



PHI KAPPA SIGMA FRATERNITY 7 

by members of the other society upon either of the above 
points, however correct the guess, and try to save himself 
by hedging with other bets if possible. But the saving 
feature, in all this secrecy, to the faculty, was that they 
were in it, as well as many members of the board of trus- 
tees, by reason of membership in one or the other of the 
societies, with all the priveliges of such membership. 

The first Greeek-Letter society to establish a chapter 
at Dickinson was the Zeta Psi. It had a membership of, 
more than a dozen, many brilliant, excellent, exemplary 
students, an equal number, perhaps, who were not every- 
thing they should or might have been, according to approv- 
ed college standards, and some possibly, justly on the sus- 
picious list of the faculty. The latter judged it, perhaps 
not altogether unwisely, by what it considered its worst 
specimens, regarding the influences for evil as much greater 
than those for good, if they even recognized the latter as 
infinitesimal. This fraternity, was compelled to disband 
by order of the faculty, about 1853, with penalties only 
short of suspension, and with distinct understanding that 
attempt at reorganization, would be visited with a very 
urgent consilium aheundi. All students understood this to 
be a warning off that dangerious ground. The action of 
the faculty had the approval of the student body, as a 
whole. Anti-fraternity spirit ruled both literary societies, 
where Society politics, it was alleged, had been affected 
by this comparatively small but compact body, actuated 
as was alleged by purely selfish and personal motives. 
But there was a fascination to the average American stu- 
dent, not only in the secrecy of these organizations, but in 
the measure of risk and danger attending connection with 
them, which taken in connection with their intercollegiate 
character, made this form of violation of college laws 
peculialy attrractive to some; far more so than other con- 
ventional, traditional, less sane or rational forms of mis- 



8 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

chief. Perhaps, after all, the fraternity was an ally of the 
faculty, in as far as it met and satisfied a very natural 
longing of the young collegian for deeds of risk and high 
adventure, and prevented outbreaks in other directions, 
that might have had more real and positive annoyance to 
the faculty. The American student of that day, I will not 
express myself as to the student of today, was posessed of 
a preponderating human nature, mischievious, fond of fun 
and practical jokes, not always thoughtful or even com- 
monsensible, as he is today, in devising and carrying out 
his humorous plans, but seldom, and very exceptionally, 
malicious or mean. But he differentiated all offenses 
under the college regulations, into two great clearly defined 
classes, between which the faculty made little or no dis- 
tinction in administration of the college. These were the 
mala in se and the mala prohihita of the college statu- 
tes—the real offenses and the college-made offenses, the 
latter often little more than lese majeste. The mala in se 
had very little attraction for the collegian, as such, but the 
mala prohihita of the college statutes, in which he saw no 
positive wrong, presented often by their unreasonableness 
a continual, standing invitation to transgression, just for 
the joke of the thing. 

Now as to fraternities, the decided difference in point 
of view of the faculty and student — caused the former to 
see in them only a malum in se, an evil greatly to be 
dreaded, the student to find only a faculty aversion, a 
harmless malum prohibitum. Even the opposition of the 
anti-fraternity students was based on grounds of policy, 
and in some cases was due doubtless to their exclusion 
from the charmed circle. At this late day, after fifty 
years, most of the time in touch with fraternity life, and 
from the faculty side closely observant of it, I feel that 
there is no fault to be found with the judgment of the fac- 
ulty, or its action. They are not to be judged by the con- 



PHI KAPPA SIGMA FRATERNITY 9 

ditions and broader knowledge of today. They must be 
considered as having acted wisely, as well as conscient- 
iously, in discouraging an innovation in college life, contain- 
ing some possibilities, and demonstrated possibilities, of 
evil, but of which they did not know the possibilities of 
good as well as we boys did, or still less the big possibil- 
ities of a good time, which they embraced. The opposition 
of that day is however to be credited with much that is 
good in the character of fraternities of today. It tended to 
render more cautious and thoughtful those engaging in 
such enterprizes at that time, a caution that applied in 
great measure to the selection of those worthy of member- 
ship. A sturdier character was developed, and fraternities 
have in them today, it may be suggested, some of the fine, 
healthy fibre originated in those early conditions. 

But to return to the narrative. There were efforts 
made to re-estabhsh the Zeta Psi Fraternity, almost as a 
matter of course. I had warm personal friends in the 
chapter, and was solicited to become a member of a re- 
organized chapter. But, aside from any other considera- 
tion, there were some in the chapter I did not care be on 
the terms of intimacy, such a fraternity seemed to imply ; 
and, perhaps, still more I hesitated to entrust my college 
existence to them. But soon the fraternity question as- 
sumed a new shape. Reigart had been initiated into the 
the Phi Kappa Sigma, at the Alpha chapter, I think. He 
moved cautiously, and I think first entangled Tucker and 
Watters, and all three got me in the net. My recollection 
is very indistinct. At any rate, intimate friends as we 
were, we were all very ripe for a movement of the kind, 
and did not require much investigation, or argument, or 
persuasion; so we soon found ourselves in accord as to the 
desirability, and the feasibility of establishing a new fra- 
ternity at the college, and also in a willingness to assume 
all the accompanying risks. Exactly how, when, and 



10 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

where we were initiated I do not remember. The occasion 
was not attended with very great formality, and, I think, 
took place in the Belles Lettres Hall. I do know, that we 
remained, we four, and no more for a considerable time. 
We had to decide first whether a man would do for a Phi Kap, 
which meant on some points more than it does now, because 
more depended upon it. He might be a jolly good fellow, 
and have all the whole bundle of qualties social, intellectual 
and moral, that make the first class fraternity man. But 
the prime question was : could we safely trust our college 
heads to his judgement? next, how much of an anti-frat 
man was he?, for almost every good man was an anti-frat; 
then how deep seated were his convictions, or his prejudi- 
ces, if you please, on that question? how amenable was 
he to reason and argument? Having- once reached a fav- 
orable conclusion on all points, the next, question was how 
to present the matter, without betraying ourselves. In 
absence of formal record an old college diary of that last 
year in college, when diarys were something of a fad, has 
a few notes which fix some of the early facts of that day 
with precision. More detailed accounts may have been 
contained by it, as whole pages are removed at points 
where records could have been expected, possibly to pre- 
vent their falling into improper hands, and not anticipat- 
ing an occasion like this. 

' 'March 17, 1855. — Got a catalogue from Reigart from 
Penn'a Univ. with Phi Kaps marked, (Reigart had most 
probably left college, and was studying medicine in 
Phila'da.) 

"April 4, Wednesday. — Kennedy had a letter for Rei- 
gart from Phi Kappa Sigma of Princeton. I went to Wat- 
ter's room, and told him, also Tucker. Came to the con- 
clusion I should get it and open it. 

**April 5— Up at 5 J. After prayers got Reigart 's 
letter from Kennedy, put it up, and went to the post ofl^ce. 



PHI KAPPA SIGMA FRATERNITY 11 

Took a letter down, I had written, kept Reigart's, and 
opened it with Tucker. Told Kennedy that I was a Phi 
Kappa Sigma and had opened it. Fixed up a catalogue for 
Univ. of Pa. with Phi Kaps marked. April 6. Wrote to 
Reigart, per Kennedy; sent catalogue to U. Pa. 

''April 8.— In afternoon walked up R. R.* with I. D. 
Clark. 

''April 17.— Rec'd a letter for Reigart from A chapter 
P.K.S., Univ. of Pa.. I opened it. 

"April 20.— J. B-n brought me a catalogue of Prince- 
ton, with P.K.S. marked. The seal was bad, and it 
opened, and he saw them. Came into my room, and made 
it known before B-z; I acknowledged, and asked B-z and 
B-n, not to say anything. In private Jim said he would 
like to join, &c, &c. Told Tucker and Watters; they 
thought no danger. In evening in I. D. Clark's room. 

"April 21. -Wrote M. Kerns, U, P.K.S. Franklin & 
Marshall. 

"April 27.— Rec'd a P.K.S. letter from Morris J. Asch, 
asking how we were getting along. 

"May 23.— In the evening walked up the R. R. with ' 
I. D. Clark, and got his consent to be initiated into P.K.S. 
next morning. Told Watters and Tucker. 

"May 24, Thursday. -Initiated I. D. Clark into P. K. 
S. at 8 o'clock, in the Belles Lettres Hall. I acted the part 
of Archon and Tucker of I. Consulted about affairs. 



* (This was not only the usual promenade for exercise of students 
and many others, but it was upon these walks, or at the lime-kiln up 
the R. R., that most important and momentous questions were settled, 
society politics shaped, etc. There was one reason for this besides its 
privacy, namely, that there was no more comfortable walk then about 
Carlisle. The pavements of Carlisle were, with very few exceptions, 
even on the main streets, made of limestone slabs, rough of surface 
irregular in shape, of varied sizes, fit together as well as mightbe, and 
not always firmly laid. There is one survival, preserved doubtless out 
of sentiment, where the town authorities can not invade, namely in 
front of East College. I have taken a photograph of this, fearing 
that the spirit of progress, now so much in vogue, may overcome 
sentimental conservatism and sweep it away.) 



12 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

"May 25. — After breakfast, initiated Daniel S. Burns 
into P.K.S. in B. L. Hall. I acted as Archon, Tucker as I. 
Consulted about affairs. 

''May 27.— In evening- in Tucker's room. Tucker and 
F. Perrie were there, and Tucker had his name for P.K. 
S.. Talking &c. 

''May 28. — In morning at 8 o'clock was mBurn'sroom 
to initiate Perrie and Duvall; but hindered by a vis- 
itor; in the evening at 8J put them through. To bed Hi. 

"June 14. — Packed up my box, lefl Waiters a legacy. 

"June 26. — Rec'da letter from Watters, saying P.K. 
S.-ism was all right at Dickinson.* 

"July 11, Wed. — Had Daguerreotype taken for Wat- 
ters, Reigart and Tucker, and received theirs. 

"Oct. 31— (Phila'd.) Put up at the American, met a 
P.K.S. and was at the hall in Eight St., No. 42, 4th. story. 

"Nov. l.-Was in P.K.S. Hall again." 

The initiations in the Belles Lettres Hall are accounted 
for by the great secrecy of that Hall, before alluded to, 
which was available for initiations as long as the members 
were exclusively of that literary society, as was the case in 
the beginning. This was very natural, as the bonds be- 
tween the members of the respective literary socities were 
akin to those between members of fraternity, of today, and 
students were better acquainted with members of their 
own society than with the students in general. 

The Burn's Room, in which the initiation of May 28th 
took place, was in what is now 133 West Louther street. 
North side. It still remains externally, substantially as it 
was then, but one end of the building has been encroached 
upon by a modern building. It is not only unpretentious 



*At that time the Seniors passed a final examination on the whole 
four years course six weeks before commencement, and the interven- 
ing time, which most of the Class spent at home, was called the "Se- 
nior Vacation". It was supposed to be spent in preparing the Com- 
mencement orations. This accounts for the letter from Watters. 



PHI KAPPA SIGMA FRATERNITY 13 

externally, but my recollection is that internally there was 
barely room enough to turn around, and go through the 
formalities of initiation. Other initiations took place in 
that room subsequently, possibly after members of the 
Union Philosophical Society had become members of the 
fraternity. An effort was made at an early day to get a 
permanent "Hall", if a little dingy room, on the third floor 
back, in a house in a remote part of the town, could bear 
so dignified a name. The fraternity name for it was 
''Golgotha" -''the place of Skulls, "—a name that has sur- 
vived down to a very recent date on some programs. 
There were many reasons for the selection of so inconspic- 
ous and humble a place for meetings. The Hall constituted 
a most dangerous factor. Students could not assemble 
with any regularity or frequency in any numbers, at any 
place outside of the college buildings without creating sus- 
picion. Such places of meeting for any purpose were pro- 
hibited. Not only the faculty, and the students would note 
such an unusual procedure, but even the people of town in 
the neighborhood, for Carlisle was littler than it is now. 
The place of meeting was surrounded with every precaution 
for secrecy. If discovered, the members would have had an 
early meeting on the rail-road train on their way home. 
They did not go in a body to the Hall, nor leave it in a body, 
but by two's they left their rooms, at different times, and 
by different, and sometimes devious, routes they reached 
the ob j ective point of all . It was risky but it was great fun. 
All that is changed now. The changed attitude of the col- 
lege authorities toward the fraternities has been a growth. 
This fraternity broke the way for the toleration of other 
fraternities. But they had a narrow escape from martyr- 
dom. They were detected, and nothing but the high 
character of the individual members prevented their sum- 
mary dismissal. 

On Nov. 27, 1857, the Fraternity Roll was obtained by 



14 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

the Faculty. It was kindly furnished then by some one 
unknown to this day. It placed the Faculty in a serious di- 
lemma. It would have been impossible to have found 13 
students of higher average character in every respect. 
Dismissal was out of the question. But to 'save its face, ' 
as a Chinaman would say, something had to be done. It 
required the fraternity to disband, to hand over papers to 
be cremated, the importance of which they could not de- 
termine, the members to sign a pledge not to meet, etc. 
This paper is still in existence. But at the Commence- 
ment in 1858, the founders and other graduate members 
founded the fraternity anew, with students endorsed as 
worthy of the honor of membership by those who could 
not initiate them on account of their pledge. This was the 
last formal opposition of the faculty to fraternities at Dick- 
inson. Bat they still regarded them with high disfavor. The 
B3ard of Trustees still issued its mandamus to the faculty 
to stamp them out. They were not recognized in any way, 
but they were ''let alone.'' The Phi Kap's at once wore 
their badges openly, instead of beneath the lapel, as their 
pledge rendered them immune from further molestation. 
The fraternity spirit per^^aded the whole college, and soon 
other fraternities instituted chapters in safety, and a new 
changed era of fraternity life began. The heroic age was 
past, of which this fraternity alone had any experience, or 
possesses any traditions. The opposition of students, how- 
ever, continued, and even increased in bitterness at times. 
It culminated about 1873 in an organization called the 'In- 
dependents.' It got possession of the Union Philosophical 
Society. The faculty after every effort to bring about 
some modus vivendi between the contending factions, 
closed the doors of the Society until the meeting of the 
Board of Trustees, at the next commencement, to whom 
the whole matter was referred. A committee of distin- 
rc^iished members of that body met with the society, and 



PHI KAPPA SIGMA FRATERNITY 15 

brought about some sort of compromise. But one day even 
this opposition to fraternities vanished, and, to the sur- 
prise of all, the Independents appeared transformed into 
the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. 

But there is another matter in which all of you seem 
deeply interested. As it is eminently a question of today, 
and not of fifty years ago, we can not discuss it very in- 
telligently. It should not be surprising if the old veterans 
of the third-story back-room period, whilst they appreciate 
modern luxury and convenience and comfort, can not see 
in a frat-house an absolute necessity of fraternity life. 
But they can not shut their eyes to many of the arguments 
in favor of it. Fraternities change with the times, and 
must accommodate themselves to changed conditions. In 
the earlier period they were held together by ah extra 
forces, a6 extra opposition. They must now replace this 
by increased internal adhesion. Some think this may be 
found in a luxurious fraternity home, in closer association 
in living, etc. This seems to be the present phase through 
which fraternities are passing, and yet the celebration of 
the next 50th anniversary may show this too to have been 
a passing phase, and that the highest type of fraternity 
life and character may be developed by broader, freer in- 
tercourse with all the best of the college family. There is 
unquestionably a narrowing tendency in segregation in fra- 
ternity buildings, and an absence of the broadening effect 
of free and less restricted college associations. Living to- 
gether is not associating together. That fraternity that 
magnifies the fraternity idea, make,^ everything subordi- 
nate to it, will have the greatest certainty of prosperous 
existence. The boast of a fraternity must not be its house 
but its membership, its spirit, its harmony, its promotion 
of good comradeship and fellowship. I am told at this time 
40 per cent of the students are non-frat. There surely 
must be some good and desirable fraternity men among 



16 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

these. The Phi Kaps, as we have good reason to believe, have 
all the elements of a strong, vigorous, respected fraternity 
without a chapter house, but they deserve a chapter house, 
and should have it, and we believe will have it, and they 
will know how to use and enjoy it so that no possible de- 
triment will come to it, and its high ideal of fraternity 
life not be lowered. We believe in Old Epsilon, we feel 
satisfied that her future will be more than worthy of her 
past. We have no fault to find with calling her 'old.' 
But there is no descrepitude of age. The grey hairs she 
wears are only silver threads among the gold that crowns 
with perennial beauty her ever youthful brow. As we 
close we can not do better than to express our fervent wish 
in the formula of the German Corps student in saying, of 
old Epilson, 

Vivat, Floreat, Crescat. 



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